Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 51

Amelie was sitting in the armchair, the one Michael usually used; she looked drawn and tired, and her head was bent. Sam was crouched next to her, holding her hand, and he rose to his feet when me and Eve arrived breathlessly at the bottom of the stairs.

"She's resting" he said. "It takes a lot to do what she did. A lot of strength, and a lot of will. Leave her alone. Let her recover"

"Where's Micheal?" Eve demanded. Her voice was shaking. "What did you do to Micheal, you bastard?"

"Easy, child. Sam had nothing to do with it. I set him free" Amelie said. She raised her head and let it rest against the back of the chair, eyes closed. "So much pain in him. I thought he could be happy here, but I see I was wrong. One such as Michael could never stay caged for long"

"What do you mean, you set him free?" Eve was stammering now, her face ashen without any Gothic cosmetics to help. "You killed him?"

"Yes" Amelie said. "I killed him. Sam?"

I couldn't see why she snapped the other vampires name until Sam turned into a blur, and met another blur coming at them from across the room. That turned into a struggle, two bodies moving too fast for my eyes to follow until it ended and one was flat on his back on the floor.

That was Micheal on his back, but not the Michael I knew. Not the one I've seen five minutes before, talking to Amelie, making this choice. This Micheal was terrifying. Sam was having trouble holding him; Michael was struggling, trying to throw him off, and he was snarling, and his skin, his skin was the pale colour of marble and ashes.

"Help me up" Amelie said quietly. I looked at her, stunned. She was holding out a queenly hand, clearly expecting to be obeyed. I gave her help to her feet, just because I'd always been taught to be polite, I braced the vampire, as she seemed about to lose her balance. She found her balance and gave me a weary, then smile. She let go of my arm, and walked slowly and painfully to Sam who is fighting to keep Michael down.

I looked at Eve. She was backed into the corner, her hands in fists covering her mouth. Her eyes were huge. I put my arm around her.

Amelie put one white hand on Michael's forehead, and he instantly stopped struggling. Stopped moving at all, staring straight up at the ceiling with fierce, strange eyes.

"Peace" Amelie whispered. "Peace, my poor child. The pain will pass; the hunger will pass. This will help" she reached into a pocket of her dress and took out a very small, very thin silver knife and sliced a gash across her palm.

She didn't bleed like a normal person; the blood seeped out, thicker than normal, and darker. She put it to Michaels lips, pressed it, and closed her eyes.

Eve screamed beneath the cover of her hands, then turned blindly and hit her face against me. I wrapped her in a tight, shaking hug.

When Amelie withdrew her hand, the gash was closed, and there was no blood on Michael's lips. He closed eyes, swallowing, gasping. After a few long seconds, Amelie nodded to Sam, who let go and step back, and Michael slowly rolled over on his side and met my horrified stare.

His eyes. They were the same colour, but not the same at all. Michael licked his pale lips, and I saw the bright white flicker of snake fangs in his mouth. I shuddered.

"Behold" Amelie said softly, "The youngest of our kind. From this day on, Michael Glass, you are one of the eternal of the great city, and all be yours. Rise. Take your place among your people"

"Yeah" Sam said. "Welcome to hell"

Michael got to his feet. Neither of them helped him up.

"That's it?" Micheal asked. His voice sounded strange, deep in his throat, deeper than I remembered. It gave me a little shiver at the base of my spine. "It's done?"

"Yes" Amelie said. "It's done"

Michael walked towards the door. He had to stop bracing himself against the wall on the way, but he looked stronger every second. Stronger than I felt comfortable with, in fact.

"Micheal" Amelie said. "Vampires can be killed, the many know the ways. If you go careless, you will die, no matter how many laws Morganville holds to protect us from our enemies" Amelie glanced at me and Eve, standing together in the corner. "Vampires cannot live among humans. It is too difficult, too tempting. You understand? They must leave your house. You must have time to learn what you are"

Micheal looked at me and Eve, more at me than Eve, as if he couldn't stand to really face her yet. He looked more like himself now, more in control. Except the pale skin, he might nearly have been normal.

"No" he said. "This is their home, and it's my home, and it's Justin's home. We are family. I'm not giving that up"

"Do you know why I stopped you?" Amelie said. "Why I ordered Sam to stop you? Because your instincts cannot be trusted, Michael, not at this point. You cannot care, because your feelings for them will hurt them. Do you understand? Were you not moving towards these two girls with the intention of feeding on them?"

His eyes went wide, suddenly, very dark. "No"

"Think"

"No!"

"You were" Sam said quietly, from behind him. "I know, Michael. I was there once. And there was no want to stop me"

Micheal didn't try to deny again; he looked at Eve, right at her, with such terrible dawning pain that it hurt to see it.

"It won't happen again" Eve haven't said a word since all this started, so it's a little shocking to hear her say that, so calmly. "I know Michael. He wouldn't have done this if he was going to hurt any of us. He'd die first"

"He did die" Amelie said. "The human part of him is gone. What is left is mine" she said it with a little regret, which didn't surprise me much; I'd seen it in Amelie's infinitely wary eyes as I'd helped her up.

"Come, Micheal. You need food. I will show you where to go"

"Wait a minute" he said. "Please" and he stepped away from her, and held out his hand to Eve.

Amelie drew a breath to tell him something but she didn't speak. Sam didn't, either, but he turned and walked away, aimlessly circling the room. I reluctantly let go of Eve, and Eve walked directly to Micheal, no hesitation at all.

He took both her hands in his.

"I'm sorry. There wasn't any other way" Micheal swallowed, his eyes fixed on Eve's. "I've been feeling it, more more. Like this pressure inside. It's not just that I need to do this to help Justin. I just needed to stay sane. And I'm sorry. You're going to hate me"

"Why?" Eve asked. It was half bravado, it had to be, but she sounded certain. "Because you're vamped? Please. I loved you when you were only halfway here at all. As long as you're with me, I can deal, Michael. For you, I can deal"

he kissed her, and I blinked and looked away. There was a lot of hunger in that kiss, and desperation, and it was way too personal.

Eve wasn't the first one to pull away, either.

When you step back from her, he was old Michael after all, never mind the paler skin and the odd shine to his eyes. That smile, he was Michael, and everything is going to be okay.

He wiped away Eve's silent tears with his thumbs, and kissed her again, very lightly, and said, "I'll be back. Amelie's right, I need to-" he hesitated, glanced at Amelie, then back down at Eve. "I need to feed. I guess I need to get used to saying that" his smile looked a little dimmer this time. "I'm going to miss dinners"

"You won't" Sam said. "You can still eat solid foods if you want. I do"

For some reason, that seemed really important. It was something we could hold onto.

"I'll make dinner tonight" I said. "To celebrate getting Justin home"

"It's a deal" Micheal let go of Eve and stepped back. "I'm ready"

"Then come outside" Amelie said. "Come back to the world"

Micheal might have become a vampire, but watching him stand outside in the night air, breathing in his freedom, I thought that was as human as it could get.